Monday, December 30, 2013

Colin's Birth Story

I re-read the last blog post. I really shouldn't blog while I am sleep deprived. But if I don't then I won't remember the details once I have more energy.

I like to document how my children come into this world. Not only for my own record to reflect on, remember for the next child and for others to learn from, perhaps? I am NOT saying we ARE planning on having another. That is a decision that is personal and not to be determined right now.

Anywho, here are the details.

My due date was December 27th, the exact same day Jocelyn was born. The girls were both early (12 and 6 days respectively) so I thought there might be a chance that this baby would be early. But I was really insistent on not having a Christmas day baby or a shared birthday with Jocelyn. So my midwives said they would be willing to schedule an induction one week before his due date and only if my body was ready to be so. I tried preparing it by drinking red raspberry leaf tea, staying busy doing household chores, activities with kids (mentioned in previous post), etc. By my last appointment (the Monday before he came) I was dilated to a 2 and my cervix was soft enough to be induced.

All that week I was hoping he would come on his own though. I have experienced pitocin with Jocelyn and it was intense. Fast but really intense. I didn't want to use pitocin again because of my previous experience but the other options would have been less effective and sounded just as uncomfortable.

They would only schedule inductions on weekdays and at 39 weeks which was great because December 20th, a Friday was exactly that. I wanted him to be born on my Mom's birthday the next day but that was a Saturday so they wouldn't schedule it.

So the Thursday night before, after our power went out, I could not sleep! I tossed and turned all night and I was not experiencing peace of mind. I kept thinking of how hard it was going to be the next day and I was worried. The next morning I was to call them at 7am to see when I could come in. So I woke up at 6:30 to shower and be ready. I called at 7am and the nurse sounded a bit distracted or frantic? I couldn't even speak with the charge nurse to get a time because she said they experienced some unexpected emergencies the night before and they were really busy (I think due to the bad weather and a full moon....does strange things). So I was allowed to eat a light breakfast and to call back in an hour. I did and they were still too busy. So I was to wait 2 more hours! Ugh. I knew I could get bumped because I was an elective induction, not emergency. I just didn't want to get bumped to the next day because then I would have another day to worry. So I took a nap which was wise. I told Rose to go run some of her errands and to be on call if the hospital called sooner.

They called at 10:30 and we arrived around 11 am. Rose took Cecily shopping and the other two kids were still in school until 2pm. Thanks to Rose for watching them all day!Condensed version for those who don't really care about the nitty gritty!11--check-in to hospital12--start Group-B-Strep meds4pm--They break my water5pm--They start pitocin7:04pm--He's born!

Read on for the details:

Right before the IV. Yikes!

This was taken earlier in the week.

By the time I got checked in at the hospital and my IV in with Group-B Strep (not the same thing as strep where your throat hurts) meds it was noon. They gave me the only room with a birthing tub because I was choosing to go naturally. However, I never ended up needing it. So from noon until 3:30pm I just waited. My midwife wanted the meds to be in my system for at least 4 hours before we started labor so that we could try to get the 2nd dose in before he was born, to limit risk of respiratory problems with the baby. During this time Tyler went home to get the ipod charger for my "relaxing" music and lunch for himself. I was allowed to eat jello, graham crackers and drink powerade. That was refreshing as I was starting to get hungry and was getting a headache. I also had him bring the movie Christmas Vacation to watch because we hadn't seen it this season yet. By the time he got there we barely finished the whole thing. I was sort of watching and trying to laugh even though I was a bit nervous. OH, I forgot to mention that I had Tyler give me a Priesthood blessing right before I got the strep meds. He said I need to be patient and that I would have peace of mind. Both things I was praying for all week.

At 4pm Jennifer, my midwife, gave me a few choices. We could start pitocin right away or break my water and see if I went on my own. I was dilated to a 3 at this point. I opted to have my water broken. It didn't hurt. Yay. The nurse suggested I walk around for an hour. If not much was happening we agreed to start the pitocin in one hour. So I walked the halls, alone. Tyler happily played on the laptop. I ran into an old friend from the Brick Oven. His wife just had a C-section delivery that morning because she was induced and her baby flipped bum down. That was not very encouraging as I was about to get pitocin. So I kept walking and texted Jennie as if she were my doula. It would have been nice to have her there but it couldn't be. Contractions were very light (they still felt like Braxton Hicks with the occasional contraction) and 10 minutes apart. After an hour of walking I was kind of bored so went back to the room.

The nurse came back a few minutes later and she was ready to start the pit. In my mind I said, "Okay, let's do this!" Tyler was now hungry and wanted to get some dinner. I told him, "No way. You need to stay here because this is when it gets intense." So he went to the snack room and got a coke and some soda crackers. We dimmed the lights and turned on my "birthing" music. At 5:10pm she gave me the lowest dosage of pitocin, in an IV. Luckily, she found a warm bag of it so it didn't freeze my veins like it did with Jocelyn. The contractions did not start as strong as they did with Jocelyn. They were getting stronger than the hour before and were now 6-7 minutes apart. I thought, "Okay, I hope this isn't a long night and they don't have to increase the pitocin." But by 5:30 they started to be 3 minutes apart and were stronger. Jennifer came in and suggested I move around. She brought in this big plastic peanut shaped ball. It was different than the birthing balls in that it was shaped like a peanut and lower to the ground. So I sat on that and on the contractions Jennifer would push on my knee and my back gently as I held onto the bed. They were getting harder and I was now needing to breath on the contractions. At one point, during contractions, after one of them peaked, I started laughing. Then Tyler laughed because the monitor showed that it was "off the charts" like a really intense contraction but that I wasn't reacting that hard. We were both laughing and the nurse asked if she was missing some inside joke. I said, "No, it just feels good to laugh right now." That only lasted a couple contractions.

At 6:15 she checked me again because I moved to the bed. I was dilated to a 6! I decided to stay on the bed as the contractions were now getting harder and more consistent. I knew that he would be coming soon because I was nearing transition. The nurse said her shift ended at 7 and she wanted to see this baby before she left, I told her I would do my best to make that happen. That actually encouraged me to stay focused on relaxing and bearing down. At 6:45 I asked her to check me again. I was at an 8! Almost there! I was starting to breath a bit faster and Jennifer reminded me to keep my voice at a lower register as I was breathing/moaning through the contractions instead of in my chest because it's more productive that way. I was still talking in between contractions at this point. But then a few contractions later things were getting intense and the I could feel the ring of fire and I couldn't talk anymore. It was time! She checked me and I was complete. I could push now! She called in the nurses with some urgency and they got everything set up and told me not to push on the next contraction yet. She said I could stay in the laying down position. Sweet, I didn't have to move. at about 7pm, I am guessing, I could push on the next contraction. THIS is when it hurt. Both Tyler and Jennifer both said though that I was making it "look easy" because I apparently seemed very focused and not in any discomfort during that last hour. Ha! I certainly was uncomfortable. But once I pushed, it only took one long, hard push. Tyler told me he had hair! Yay! I smiled and kept pushing with my eyes closed and legs folded up to my chest and I remember saying out loud, "Ouch, ouch....ouch!" but then soon it was over. He was born at 7:04 pm (and coincidentally weighed 7 lbs 4 oz)! They placed him on my chest and I opened my eyes. I was so relieved. He was beautiful. I laughed, cried and smiled as I looked for Tyler's face to smile at. It was over! Hopefully my last delivery! It was awesome and I was so glad that I was patient, had peace of mind and even though I was so out of shape I had the energy to go through with it and with no complications. It was another great experience.

Colin Steven

December 20th

7:04 pm

7 lbs 4 oz, 21" long

He passed his tests with flying colors and did not have Juandice! Yay! I'll post later about his first week :)